COLUMBUS – Thanks to a drop in oil prices and less driving by Americans, the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline dropped over the past two weeks in Columbus and around the nation.
The price in Columbus Monday morning was 29 cents lower than it was on April 24, at $2.14 gallon, according to a daily survey by the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc.
The nationwide average price 5 cents during the same two-week period, according to industry analyst Trilby Lundberg’s biweekly Lundberg Survey.
“The likelihood of a further price drop at the pump is greater than the possibility of a rise, Lundberg said. “At any rate, unless there’s a crude oil emergency, we won’t see a [price] spike.”
Lower costs for crude oil, as well as abundant gas supplies and low demand, are being credited for the decline, which is unusual for May, when driving increases and suppliers switch to the more expensive summer fuel blend, Lundberg said.
Demand for gasoline is reportedly about 2.7 percent less than it was a year ago, when pump prices were comparable to today’s price.
The national average price, according to the AAA, was $2.35 a gallon, compared with $2.21 in 2016 but the average price around Ohio was $2.19, just a penny more than in 2016.